"Welcome to Winster, where friends help
friends win FREE prizes. Try my games now!"
- Winnie Winster, Founder and Host
friends win FREE prizes. Try my games now!"
- Winnie Winster, Founder and Host
About Us
Winster.com is a social community where friends help friends solve puzzles to win real prizes. You pick the prize you want to win, then play engaging, fun games until you win your prize.
Our games are specifically designed to foster a sense of community and promote positive interaction. Players cooperate to help each other win prizes, rather than compete. At Winster.com, players play with each other, never against each other.
Our mission is to build and serve a friendly online community through entertaining games and valuable prizes.
155 Bovet Rd.
Suite 303
San Mateo, CA 94402
Phone: (650) 376-1460
By Phone: (650) 376-1460
Mon-Fri 8am-4pm Pacific Time
So she got the idea to build a different kind of game - one where people cooperate, rather than compete, to help each other win. Working with her husband Jerry, a computer engineer, she came up with a new type of game where people can win prizes faster if they work together. The result was Winster.com, where friends help friends win free prizes.
"I wanted games that people would play WITH each other rather than AGAINST each other to encourage cooperation instead of competition. Then I realized players could help each other win prizes. That?s when it all came together." "Winster is more like a coffee klatch than a game site," she explains. "People make new friends quickly and easily because they aren?t trying to beat each other. Helping out other people is much more fun than you might think." What started as a home project in their garage quickly grew into a real business. To date, the Winster team has created 10 games to choose from. "Who knew this would be such a big deal?" Jerry says. "We?ve had hundreds of thousands of people play our games, spending many hours each day making friends, winning prizes and just plain having fun."
CEO
As a serial entrepreneur, Jerry Kaplan is widely credited with a number of inventions and patents, including online auctions (as a founder of Onsale.com), and pen computers (as a founder of GO Corporation). He is perhaps best known for his bestselling non-fiction novel, Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure. His most recent paycheck was as CEO of Egghead.com. Jerry holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Michelle Kaplan
Co-founder and inspiration for Winnie
Michelle Kaplan originated the Winster concept and is the model for her alter ego, Winnie Winster. She has an extensive background in internet marketing and business development, serving as Director of Marketing and PR then VP of Business Development at Onsale.com, where she met Jerry (see above) and to everyone?s surprise, agreed to marry him. She also held various marketing and public relations positions at Interex, Inc. Michelle was recruited out of UC Santa Barbara by Hewlett-Packard where she held various corporate marketing positions.
Winnie Winster
Apocryphal Founder & Web Site Host
Winnie is a ?Virtual Miss Manners?, the personification of grace, with a long and storied career as a character. She has held numerous position as avatar, mascot, logo model, and corporate icon. Most recently, she was understudy to Barbie in Nutcracker Barbie, and is on call for product package cameos as Betty Crocker when Betty is unavailable. Winnie comes from a long line of notable English figurines, dating back to her great-great-grandmother?s appearance as a wood-cut in Chaucer?s "Canterbury Tales". (The town of Winster, Derbyshire was named in honor of her family.) She is well known for her charity work, fundraising for lost or abused child caricatures, and volunteering as a substitute teacher on Sesame Street. Winnie holds a BS in Fabrication from Ersatz College and a Certificate in Web Site Hosting from I.S.P.
Pictured: Jerry, Winnie, Marlet, Siva, Stephen, Emmie, Jenna, Kannan
Winnie and the kids mailing the Gold Member mouse pads!
Winster.com is a social community where friends help friends solve puzzles to win real prizes. You pick the prize you want to win, then play engaging, fun games until you win your prize.
Our games are specifically designed to foster a sense of community and promote positive interaction. Players cooperate to help each other win prizes, rather than compete. At Winster.com, players play with each other, never against each other.
Our mission is to build and serve a friendly online community through entertaining games and valuable prizes.
Contact Information
Winster, Inc.155 Bovet Rd.
Suite 303
San Mateo, CA 94402
Phone: (650) 376-1460
Customer Service
By Email:By Phone: (650) 376-1460
Mon-Fri 8am-4pm Pacific Time
Winster's Humble Beginnings
Northern California housewife, Michelle Kaplan (a.k.a. Winnie) liked to play games on line, but somehow, the typical games she found online just didn?t seem right to her. Most of them pitted players against each other to win points, status or prizes. "It seemed to me that the games I played were better suited for young men that like to slay monsters or make touchdowns," she says. "But I?m just not like that. I socialize with my friends by helping them, not competing with them. The last thing I needed was more stress in my life."So she got the idea to build a different kind of game - one where people cooperate, rather than compete, to help each other win. Working with her husband Jerry, a computer engineer, she came up with a new type of game where people can win prizes faster if they work together. The result was Winster.com, where friends help friends win free prizes.
"I wanted games that people would play WITH each other rather than AGAINST each other to encourage cooperation instead of competition. Then I realized players could help each other win prizes. That?s when it all came together." "Winster is more like a coffee klatch than a game site," she explains. "People make new friends quickly and easily because they aren?t trying to beat each other. Helping out other people is much more fun than you might think." What started as a home project in their garage quickly grew into a real business. To date, the Winster team has created 10 games to choose from. "Who knew this would be such a big deal?" Jerry says. "We?ve had hundreds of thousands of people play our games, spending many hours each day making friends, winning prizes and just plain having fun."
Biographies
Jerry KaplanCEO
As a serial entrepreneur, Jerry Kaplan is widely credited with a number of inventions and patents, including online auctions (as a founder of Onsale.com), and pen computers (as a founder of GO Corporation). He is perhaps best known for his bestselling non-fiction novel, Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure. His most recent paycheck was as CEO of Egghead.com. Jerry holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Michelle Kaplan
Co-founder and inspiration for Winnie
Michelle Kaplan originated the Winster concept and is the model for her alter ego, Winnie Winster. She has an extensive background in internet marketing and business development, serving as Director of Marketing and PR then VP of Business Development at Onsale.com, where she met Jerry (see above) and to everyone?s surprise, agreed to marry him. She also held various marketing and public relations positions at Interex, Inc. Michelle was recruited out of UC Santa Barbara by Hewlett-Packard where she held various corporate marketing positions.
Winnie Winster
Apocryphal Founder & Web Site Host
Winnie is a ?Virtual Miss Manners?, the personification of grace, with a long and storied career as a character. She has held numerous position as avatar, mascot, logo model, and corporate icon. Most recently, she was understudy to Barbie in Nutcracker Barbie, and is on call for product package cameos as Betty Crocker when Betty is unavailable. Winnie comes from a long line of notable English figurines, dating back to her great-great-grandmother?s appearance as a wood-cut in Chaucer?s "Canterbury Tales". (The town of Winster, Derbyshire was named in honor of her family.) She is well known for her charity work, fundraising for lost or abused child caricatures, and volunteering as a substitute teacher on Sesame Street. Winnie holds a BS in Fabrication from Ersatz College and a Certificate in Web Site Hosting from I.S.P.
Staff Pictures
Pictured: Jerry, Winnie, Marlet, Siva, Stephen, Emmie, Jenna, Kannan
Winnie and the kids mailing the Gold Member mouse pads!
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About Us | Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | FAQ | NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
About Us | Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | FAQ | NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
